Organizing Your Photos for Fun & Profit

Posted on 01/03/2011 by Poonam Sagar

Our photos are little legacies of the life we have led – our travels, experiences, food, family, friends, work relationships and more. Each photo is a window into a moment, and the collections of images we take over the years are a window into who we were and what we valued.

It was in the year 2004 that I got my first digital camera, a point and shoot Casio with 3 megapixels. I have upgraded my camera every couple of years and currently have a Lumix point and shoot with a whopping 14.5 megapixels. Over the years I have taken tons and tons of digital photos and until a couple of years ago they were all on my hard drive, totally disorganized. Then one day my hard drive crashed – an amazingly rude wake up call. Some of the photographs could be recovered but many had disintegrated into virtual ashes.

It was a hard lesson to learn and I have since come up with steps and strategies to save, organize, share and backup my digital photographs. Here is a primer to save your photographs and your sanity:

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A Gastronomic Delight

Posted on 01/03/2011 by Poonam Sagar

The most enjoyable way to learn more about the Indian culture is through a gastronomic journey of Indian food. Indian food is a very large term and encompasses 3,000 years of culinary civilization.

It is wide ranging in its diversity and has been the literal melting pot influenced by the tastes and flavors of the visitors, friendly and otherwise, over the millennia to the Indian subcontinent. It is now characterized by its sophisticated and subtle use of many spices and vegetables grown across India and also for the widespread practice of vegetarianism across its society.

Each family of this cuisine is has a wide assortment of dishes and cooking techniques. As a consequence, Indian cuisine varies from region to region, reflecting the varied demographics of the ethnically diverse Indian subcontinent.

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Do Your Best and Leave the Rest…to God

Posted on 27/02/2011 by Poonam Sagar

Interview with Shubraji as an audio podcast.

At 13 years old, Shubraji was a student at Loreto convent in Lucknow, India, and an atheist. On a school holiday with her sister she first met Swami Chinmayananda and was touched by the divine. She became his disciple and is now a Vedanta teacher living in the US. Vedanta is a philosophy taught by the Vedas, the most ancient scriptures of India. She said ‘spiritually we are all one’ and we should not get caught in the maelstrom of ‘my religion is better that yours’. Religion is merely a search for self-knowledge, a search for the divine within us.

Shubraji in JakartaHer empowering message was on being a co-creator of your destiny through surrender ‘Karmanye Vadhikaraste…’ Shubraji explained that to achieve any goal it all starts with an intention and plan. The second step is to put in your best effort to reach the goal. However, after you put in your best effort, surrender the goal to the Almighty, as only the intention and action is in our control.

Talking to Shubraji was like meeting a long lost friend. She was humble and freely gave of her knowledge and insight. It was the first time I had the privilege to meet her, here in Jakarta. She had just finished her very inspiring and empowering talk on “The Power of the Divine Feminine”. The talk was interspersed with chants, mantras and quotations from ancient Indian and other spiritual texts. At the end of her talk she passed around a basket with words written on slips of paper to the audience. The slip I picked had the word ‘patience’ – just the quality I need to inculcate in every aspect of my life.

Interview with Shubraji as an audio podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Friendship through culture – Festival India in Indonesia

Posted on 25/02/2011 by Poonam Sagar

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.” Is it merely a coincidence that this selfsame desire has been so successfully satisfied in Indonesia today?

The Festival of India in Indonesia is aimed at showcasing “friendship through culture”, and according to its website, “aspires to showcase the best of Indian culture” and aims to “highlight the shared cultural expressions and common heritage of both India and Indonesia through partnership in participation” in the hope of “strengthening and reviving cultural relations and mutual understanding with Indonesia”.

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Role of Technology in Delivering Superior Service

Posted on 23/02/2011 by Poonam Sagar

The refrigerator was on the blink and the ice had melted in the freezer. Visions of rotting, stinking food floated in front of my eyes. It was time to call the service center for my refrigerator, long past its warranty period. I ‘googled’ the service center and called them. “Good Morning Mrs. Sagar” was the greeting at the second ring. Wow! I could not believe it. They must have had my name from the caller id system and customer database at their end. They could immediately identify the type and serial number of my fridge. On my explanation of the problem, the right spare part was dispatched with the service guy who came and fixed it the same day. Is this is a fantasy? No! This was my personal experience just a few weeks back. Would this level of customer service be possible without the use of technology? Would this service result in my buying another product from this company?

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Its a Juggling Act: Work Life Balance for Women Entrepreneurs

Posted on 20/02/2011 by Poonam Sagar

Teach a woman to fish and she will feed the whole village – African proverb

The biggest driver of the 21st century global economy will not be India or China but women coming into the workforce. Women entrepreneurs are rapidly becoming vital engines of growth and development, both locally and globally, creating tremendous opportunities around the world by opening doors to greater self-sufficiency, self-esteem, education and growth. They have a passion before profit approach and are dedicated to their business doing what they love.  While many entrepreneurs may launch their business with a clear exit strategy, women design their business in order to make a long-term, sustainable and viable living working in a field where they have a particular interest, passion, talent, knowledge or high degree of expertise. Women choose the path to entrepreneurship because it gives them the freedom to balance time and make money at the same time.

It’s a juggling act with the demands of self, family, career and social time, and women entrepreneurs are able to balance their family life better than those who were employed for someone else. Research shows that 79% of entrepreneurs have more flexibility to take care of their families. However when asked if they made more money than those with employed jobs, the response was interesting- no. And if age, children and every day demands weren’t enough, these women often also care for their aging parents and the definition of time becomes a woman entrepreneur’s greatest challenge.

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Have Passion, Will Blog!

Posted on 19/02/2011 by Poonam Sagar

my blog screenshotA beginner’s guide to blogging

If you love doing something share it with the world. A personal blog is the most effective and fastest way to do so. As Seth Godin said “Blogging is free, it doesn’t matter if anyone reads it.  What matters is the humility that comes from writing it.  What matters is the meta cognition of thinking about what you are going to say…”

The modern blog or web log evolved from the concept of an online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives in the late 90’s. Blogs now number over 400 million and new ones are being added to the blogosphere every day. Our natural social instincts and desire to be part of a conversation are the reason for the phenomenal popularity of blogging. So are you ready to Blog? You don’t need a lot of technical knowledge to start a blog and there are lots of free platforms available online. Your blog is just 3 steps away:

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A Touch of Magic – Indians in Indonesia

Posted on 18/02/2011 by Poonam Sagar

It must be a touch of magic that has drawn Indians to Indonesia for two millennia. Indians have historically made the journey to Indonesia – a name derived from the Latin Indus, meaning “India”, and the Greek Nesos, meaning “island”, in search of economic opportunities, to find sources of livelihood and success for themselves and their families.

The abundant friendly faces and easy smiles have captivated Indian migrants for centuries and even today, ask any Indian expatriate: they would like to grow roots in Indonesia. If they move to any other part of the world, they yearn to come back. It is like coming home, because after all, Indonesia is a cultural Godchild of India. The underlying philosophical concepts introduced since the 5th century by the Brahman priests have had a profound effect in shaping every facet of Indonesian society.

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Indian Fashion Designer in Jakarta

Posted on 18/02/2011 by Poonam Sagar

Tarun Tahiliani is one of the most celebrated Fashion Designers of India and a Graduate of the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.The designer clothes created by him are sold in New York, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Dubai, New Delhi and Mumbai. He is inspired by India textiles embroidery and other traditional techniques. His creations include fabric with block printing and have attractive color combinations.

Indian Fashion Designer Tarun Tahliani

Tarun Tahliani in Jakarta

He is not a man of words but action. His creations have made ripples not only in India but also around the world in exclusive stores as well as in his own studios. Tarun’s brand is known to be of high style and flawless sensibility. His studio produces bridal trousseau’s, exclusive evening wear for women and men`s line. He is a name to reckon with in the industry and no show is complete without his presentation. Continue reading →

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The Secret of Successful Entrepreneurship – LUCK!

Posted on 14/02/2011 by Poonam Sagar

“Luck surrounds us every day; we are constantly having lucky things happen to us, whether you recognize it or not. I have not been any more lucky or unlucky than anyone else. The difference is when luck came my way, I took advantage of it.” – Richard Branson

tag cloud image of luck

Look around you and you will find motivated, hardworking and dedicated people in the pursuit of success. However, more than 90% of all startups fail in the first 5 years. Talk to any successful entrepreneur and you will discover that they just happened to be at the right place at the right time. What a stroke of luck! Is this what differentiates the successful entrepreneurs?

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